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None in the usual way (allegedly one, per photo in "Downloaded"); all other Number Eight Cylons are her identical sisters, and the other numbers are considered siblings as well
Sharon "Boomer" Valerii is a copy of the humanoid Cylon model Number Eight who is initially planted as a "sleeper" agent in the Colonial Fleet. She is unaware of her Cylon nature and serves for two years as Lieutenant Valerii on Galactica, where she is assigned as a Raptor pilot and also engaged in a secret relationship with Chief Tyrol. After the Cylon attack, her underlying programming repeatedly emerges which leads her to unconscious acts of sabotage. Growing confusion about her true self result in a deep depression and a failed suicide attempt. After Valerii returns from a successful mission to destroy a Cylon basestar, she shoots Commander William Adama in the chest, wounding him critically. She is incarcerated in the brig and soon afterward is killed by Cally Henderson.
Her consciousness is downloaded and she is reborn in another body. Subsequently, she experiences severe problems integrating into Cylon society and long considers herself more human than Cylon. She eventually works together with Caprica-Six in an attempt to change Cylon popular opinion about humans and she emerges as one of the Cylon leaders jointly responsible for the end of the occupation of the Twelve Colonies and later the Cylon occupation on New Caprica. Following the failure on New Caprica, Valerii abandons her hopes for coexistence with humans and she denounces her past on Galactica. She is assigned to watch Hera Agathon, but when Hera's mother comes to rescue her, Valerii tries to kill her and is killed by Caprica-Six allowing Agathon and Caprica-Six to escape while Valerii downloads to a new body again. However, while she feels that she belongs to Cylon society, she is not fully integrated into it and relatively isolated among her peers, particularly from the rest of her model's line as her vote to lobotomize the Cylon Raiders leads to a Cylon Civil War.
She is engaged in a relationship with the Number One leading the pro-lobotomization faction of the Cylons and is a member of that faction although she does express some misgivings about their actions. She is also aware of the identity of at least one member of the Final Five: Ellen Tigh and has known since before even D'Anna found out as Cavil trusts her and let her in on the secret. She eventually helps Ellen escape as part of a plan to infiltrate Galactica and is locked in the Cylon brig on arrival.
Later when she is prisoner on Galactica she escapes, beats Athena badly, has sexual relations with Helo and kidnaps Hera, but redeems herself somewhat by saving Hera from dissection and helping her escape to her parents. Valerii is finally killed by Athena and with resurrection destroyed, her death is final.
Biography
Life on Galactica
Valerii is a "sleeper" agent, unsuspecting of her Cylon status. As far as she is aware, she was born on the mining colony of Troy, as the daughter of a family from Aerilon(TRS: "Flesh and Bone"). Troy itself was destroyed in an unexplained cataclysm, allowing Valerii's background to be established as that of an orphan. Following her arrival on board Galactica, she enters into a relationship with the ship's Chief Petty Officer Galen Tyrol, which is against military protocols concerning fraternization between officers and non-officers. Whether this is unintentional or a subconscious reaction to her Cylon programming remains unclear.
As a rookie pilot, she keeps missing the trap and putting holes into the deck. Admiral Adama calls her to his office alongside Colonel Tigh and talks with her about why she keeps doing that and instead of kicking her out of the service, he gives her advice and another chance. Valerii thanks him and tells him she owes him one and will pay him back someday. Adama says a lot of people owe him one but a lot never pay it back but Valerii promises to pay him back someday when it really means something. (TRS: "Daybreak, Part II")
At the time of the Cylon attack, Valerii is flying her Raptor to Caprica with Galactica's last remaining operational Viper squadron, when they learn of the attacks and attempt to engage two Cylon Raiders. However, the Viper squadron is destroyed, and the Raptor is damaged while trying to escape, forcing Valerii and her ECOKarl Agathon to make an emergency landing on Caprica in Raptor 312.
After repairing the Raptor they are mobbed by desperate civilians and undertake a rescue operation. Lifting a number of children, Valerii states there is room for three adults. Valerii holds a lottery for the three seats. When the last number is called, Agathon chooses to give up his place aboard the Raptor so that Doctor Gaius Baltar can be rescued as well (TRS: "Miniseries"). Helo later manages to make it back to Galactica with the help of Starbuck and another Sharon months later. (TRS: "Home, Part I")
After being found by Laura Roslin's group of stranded military and civilian ships, Valerii works within the new civilian Fleet, assisting Roslin's attempts to gather other stranded civilian ships in the space surrounding Caprica. She finds a number of ships critical to the fledgling Fleet's survival, such as a fuel tanker. After the newly assembled Fleet, led by Galactica, leaves the solar system of the Colonies, Valerii aids in other critical acts, including the discovery of a tylium-rich asteroid, replete with an active Cylon mine (TRS: "The Hand of God"), and locating a source of water to replenish the Fleet's lost supply after the sabotage of Galactica's stores (TRS: "Water").
At the same time as she is supporting the human Fleet, Valerii's underlying Cylon subroutines periodically emerge. Her Cylon programming is the cause of the sabotage of Galactica's water tanks, something she planned herself. However, her human side starts to emerge and prevents her from dying in the sabotage as Cavil had wanted with Cavil bringing out her Cylon programing using an elephant statue (Water, The Plan). Later, she possibly assists a copy of Aaron Doral to perform a suicide bombing by leaving a hatch open for him. The Doral copy nearly kills Commander Adama and Colonel Tigh (Litmus, The Plan).
Valerii finds herself soaking wet, after she awakes to her human personality shortly after the bombs used to destroy Galactica's water tanks were planted. She becomes increasingly concerned and starts to question her true self. Her worry increases when she experiences a certain attachment to a captured Cylon Raider, and is able to give insight into how it can be properly assessed and understood ("Water," "Six Degrees of Separation," "Flesh and Bone"). Her concerns are further elevated when, following the bombing by Doral, Galactica's Master-at-Arms, Sergeant Hadrian, suspects her and Chief Galen Tyrol of Cylon complicity (TRS: "Litmus").
Tyrol distances himself from Valerii after this incident, and he later ends their relationship following the arrest of Specialist Socinus (Litmus). Facing Tyrol's suspicions concerning her activities immediately before the bombing, Valerii finds herself emotionally isolated and stressed. She takes the Cylon detector test created by Dr. Baltar, but he hides her positive test result in fear that once discovered, she might immediately retaliate and kill him (TRS: "Flesh and Bone"). Valerii finds short solace in Baltar's test, but deals with an anonymous accusation, when she finds the word "Cylon" written on the mirror of her locker. While its unclear, her Cylon personality believes she unconsciously wrote it to warn herself about her true nature and to stop her from continuing acts of sabotage (Six Degrees of Separation, The Plan).
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Frightened and alone, Valerii withdraws into herself and attempts suicide, but is initially unable to do so. During her second attempt, she is interrupted by Dr. Baltar who, rather than discouraging her, essentially gives her his blessing on her suicide. Following his departure from the duty locker, Valerii succeeds in shooting herself, but her Cylon personality interrupts the attempt. Valerii only wounds herself in her right cheek (TRS: "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I").
After Kara Thrace absconds with a captured Cylon Raider intended for an attack on a basestar orbiting Kobol, Commander Adama asks Valerii and ECO Margaret Edmondson to use a Cylon transponder in their Raptor to infiltrate the basestar and place a nuclear warhead within to destroy it. The mission is a success, but when the weapon would not auto-release from the Raptor after landing, Valerii exits the ship and enters the basestar. Inside, she encounters a dozen copies of herself, confirming her worst fears. Valerii escapes in the Raptor just before the warhead detonates and destroys the basestar. Back on Galactica, her encounter with the other Eight models on the basestar apparently triggers Valerii's Cylon programming to emerge once more, and she shoots Commander Adama in the chest while being congratulated on her successful mission in CIC, wounding him critically. While her Cylon programming succeeded in performing the act Cavil had been pushing her to do, she had to mentally turn herself into a Centurion as even Valerii's Cylon personality cares for Adama. It's later suggested by a Number Six that she purposefully wounded him in a way he could survive due to love for him. (TRS: "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II", "Scattered", "The Plan").
Imprisonment and death
After shooting Adama, Valerii is quickly restrained by guards and jailed in the brig. During her imprisonment, Colonel Tigh attempts to forcibly extract information from her at gunpoint, but Valerii stonewalls him and even asks him to shoot her (TRS: "Scattered"). Chief Tyrol is later incarcerated in the same brig cell by Tigh, also suspected of being a Cylon. While imprisoned together, Valerii tries to convince Tyrol that her feelings for him were real and important, but he rejects her and threatens to kill her if she touched him.
Dr. Baltar later enters the cell, ostensibly to collect a blood sample from Tyrol to prove his innocence using the Cylon detector, but he instead injects Tyrol with a potent toxin that would kill him in a matter of seconds if Baltar does not give him an antidote. Baltar interrogates Valerii, demanding to know how many other Cylons are in the Fleet, using the dying Tyrol to blackmail her. Valerii first protests that she does not know, but as Tyrol is about to die, she reveals that there are eight other Cylons in the Fleet and Baltar then revives Tyrol.
Soon after, while being transferred to a new reinforced cell built to hold Cylons for later experiments and long term incarceration, a large crowd of crewmembers jeers at her and calls her a traitor. Specialist Cally who considers Valerii responsible for Tyrol's imprisonment breaks through the crowd holding a gun and shoots Valerii at point-blank range. Valerii's last words are "I love you, Chief" and she dies in Tyrol's arms (TRS: "Resistance").
Valerii's body is sent to the morgue and autopsied. Later, the recovered Commander Adama visits her corpse, asking "why" aloud, and weeps over her body. Adama pronounces a very mild reprimand for Cally, sentencing her to 30 days in the brig for discharging a weapon without authorization. Cally is never tried for murder, since Cylons are not seen as people (TRS: "The Farm").
Valerii's corpse is later used as bait when Sesha Abinell takes over Cloud 9, demanding the execution of the future Sharon "Athena" Agathon. The distraction provided a window with which to diffuse the terrorist situation. (TRS: "Sacrifice")
Rebirth and life among Cylons
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After being shot by Cally Henderson, Galactica is close enough to a Cylon Resurrection Ship so that her consciousness is retrieved for download into another body. On rebirth, Valerii rejects her Cylon nature and continues to call herself "Sharon" instead of "Eight," even going so far as to reclaim her former apartment (502) on Caprica. A copy of Number Three, representing the status quo of the Cylons, is deeply disturbed by this and suggests that Valerii be boxed.
Caprica-Six, also seen as a Hero of the Cylon, protests and Three advises her to get Valerii to change. When Valerii laments the loss of Tyrol, Caprica-Six tells her about her own love for a human, Baltar, which prompts Valerii to inform her that he is still alive. Suspecting that Three has an ulterior motive and wants to box both of them, the two play along and Valerii announces her intent to move out of her old apartment. After a Caprica Resistance bombing, Valerii, Caprica-Six, and Three are trapped in a garage with the resistance's leader, Samuel Anders. There, Caprica-Six reveals their true intentions and declares that Valerii and herself are celebrities in a culture of unity, and, through their love for humans, have realized the horror of the Cylons' actions. Using their celebrity, they could convince a large portion of the Cylon society of their new belief that the genocide of humanity was wrong. Valerii stops Anders from killing Three, but is surprised to see Caprica-Six kill Three herself. After telling Anders to escape, Valerii agrees to help Caprica-Six reveal the truth of the genocide to the other Cylons (TRS: "Downloaded").
Valerii and Caprica-Six are obviously successful in their attempt to change popular opinion among Cylons about the genocide on the human race. According to a Cavil model that is briefly incarcerated on board Galactica, Valerii and Caprica-Six convinced a majority that "the slaughter of mankind was a mistake" which ultimately leads to an end of the occupation of the Twelve Colonies(TRS: "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I").
One year later, Valerii is one of the leaders of the Cylon force occupying New Caprica. But as other Cylons start to consider the occupation a failure, her influence appears to decrease quickly, most evident when she is unable to secure Henderson's release from detention or to remove her from the death list (TRS: "Precipice"). Their initial plan on New Caprica, "to push past the conflict that separated us from humans for so long," fails and the occupation is ended after four months (TRS: "Exodus, Part II").
Following the retreat from New Caprica, Valerii is on the same basestar as Caprica-Six and Baltar, and assigned responsibility for the Cylon-human hybrid child, Hera Agathon. At a stand-off with the human Fleet at the algae planet, Valerii is part of a Cylon delegation to make demands regarding the Eye of Jupiter, but on board Galactica, she is identified by Sharon "Athena" Agathon and denied entry. During this first meeting between them, Valerii informs Agathon that her daughter, Hera, is still alive, and she suggests that Agathon will never be fully accepted among humans, because they continue to treat her as a thing (TRS: "The Eye of Jupiter").
After Agathon downloads into the Cylon fleet to recover her child, it becomes clear that Valerii resents her, possibly out of jealousy for her connection with Hera and Agathon essentially replacing her on Galactica. Valerii has been growing increasingly frustrated by her inability to make progress with the child. She also states that she is done with her past on Galactica and that the failure of New Caprica has taught her that humans and Cylons cannot coexist. When Agathon insists that Hera is suffering from a blocked intestine after she determined that her stomach was "as hard as a gourd" and must be brought to a human doctor who knows how to care for an infant, Valerii immediately suspects that it was the other's intention all along to take Hera back to Galactica, although she is forced to admit that the child's belly has become "hard as a gourd". Suggesting that Cylons were never meant to have children in the first place, Valerii threatens to kill Hera but is knocked to the floor by Caprica-Six and killed by her former comrade (TRS: "Rapture").
After the Cylon Raiders refuse to take any offensive action for fear of harming the Final Five Cylons in the human fleet, Valerii votes in favor of lobotomizing them into effective fighters once again. This is in contradiction to the opinion of the rest of her model, breaking the stalemate between the Ones, Fours, and Fives in favor of lobotomization and the Twos, Sixes, and Eights against it. Valerii's explanation is that, "we need to be able to defend ourselves." Natalie accuses the Number One that she calls "Cavil" of having influenced Valerii (TRS: "Six of One"). The two are romantically engaged, as they kiss shortly after Cavil's resurrection, and later questions Cavil's decision to attack Natalie's rebel faction at the onset of the Cylon Civil War(TRS: "The Ties That Bind").
After Ellen Tigh's resurrection, John Cavil allows Valerii to witness his numerous conversations with Ellen. Initially agreeing with John's disdainful view of Ellen, she eventually establishes a bond with her and comes to sympathize with Ellen's perspective on Cylon creation. When Cavil has the Simons prepare to surgically dissect Ellen's brain to extract her memories, she escapes with Ellen in a Raptor logged as missing by the Colonials over a year ago. The two somehow find the Fleet, and after Valerii's voice is identified as an Eight by a Six flying CAP, the Raptor is allowed to land on Galactica. No one realizes who she is until Tyrol approaches, senses who she is, and announces her identity, eliciting a smile from her when he tells her it's nice to see her. Upon hearing this, Admiral Adama has her taken to the brig. Unknown to them at the time, Valerii's "escape" was engineered. (TRS: "No Exit", "Deadlock")
Escape from Galactica
The Cylon rebels decide to put her on trial for treason and, with death permanent because of the loss of resurrection, capital punishment is possible. When Tyrol goes to see her in the brig, she confesses that she still loves him and has thought of him ever since she died in his arms. She shares with him projections of their dream home on Picon, which she has been harboring for a while. In this dream life, they are married and have a daughter. Sure that she is going to be found guilty and executed, Tyrol helps her escape by switching her with another Eight he assaulted and rendered unconscious and placed in Valerii's cell. Pursuing her true mission, Valerii then severely beats Sharon Agathon and hides her, bound and gagged, in a toilet stall. She is then mistaken by Karl Agathon for his wife and is sexually pursued by him after she tried to quietly and discreetly without tipping him off to her true identity avoid his advances and to ostensibly leave on her (i.e Athena's) mission. Eventually she acquiesces and even gladly has sex with Karl Agathon without his knowledge as to who she truly was. During the encounter, and most likely without Valerii's knowledge, her victim Athena had become semi-conscious and witnesses Valerii's encounter with her husband from the toilet stall. Valerii then kidnapped the Agathon's daughter, Hera, drugging her with a drink when she picks her up at the daycare center to keep her quiet.
Valerii hides the drugged Hera in a provisions supply case, which is loaded onto a Raptor with Tyrol's help without attracting much attention as such cases have become routine for extended search patrols. Before Tyrol leaves, after he turned down her plea for him to come with her, she tells him that no matter what happens, she was not lying about everything she has told him and that she meant it, leading to Tyrol kissing her. While waiting for clearance to depart, she figures out that she has been discovered, and against Admiral Adama's orders powers up the Raptor and spins up its FTL drive. She hurriedly flies the Raptor out of the closing flight pod, clipping her port wing, then jumps away, close enough to damage Galactica from the resulting spatial disruption.
While talking with Saul Tigh Ellen later concludes, correctly, that everything that Valerii did, including helping her escape, was planned in order to kidnap Hera and bring her to John Cavil(TRS: "Someone to Watch Over Me").
Valerii keeps jumping her stolen Raptor, heading for The Colony. Hera's repeated cries for her mother irritates Valerii, prompting her to attempt to medically sedate Hera, but can't bring herself to do it. Instead she tells Hera about her projection of her and Tyrol's home on Picon and Hera surprises her by revealing she can project too and joining her in the projection. Valerii shows Hera the bedroom she dreamed of for her daughter and bonds with the girl. She ultimately takes her to Cavil but starts crying bitterly when Hera calls out for her showing she regrets her actions.
Later when Valerii, Simon, Cavil and Doral are sitting and watching Hera draw, Cavil reveals that Hera has apparently refused to eat and wants to intubate her. Valerii, the only one who seems to have any sympathy at all for the child, objects saying Hera wants her mother, but Cavil doesn't care only wanting to find the secret in Hera's genetic code that allowed her to come into being so the Cylon race can survive. He leaves and Valerii watches unhappily as Simon starts up a drill and prepares to intubate Hera to force her to eat (TRS: "Islanded in a Stream of Stars," "Daybreak, Part I")
Final Act and Death
During the Battle of The Colony, Valerii is with Hera and the Simon who still plans on dissecting her despite the invasion force, confident that the humans will lose. Valerii snaps his neck, killing him and takes Hera and carries her away. She carries her to the rescue team which is searching for her and gives Hera back to her parents. Athena points out that it does not make up for what she did and Valerii admits that she knows that, but she made what she knows will probably be her final choice and saved Hera. She asks them to tell Admiral Adama she owed him for having given her another chance once. She also informs them their Raptors have been destroyed, cutting off their primary escape route. Calm and ready to accept Athena's revenge, Valerii lets Athena shoot her dead. Without resurrection, her death is permanent (TRS: "Daybreak, Part II").
The Psychological Damage and Choices Made
Explained by David Weddle & Grace Park
Both writer-producer David Weddle and actress Grace Park give their views on the motivations and choices that Valerii made. Weddle concentrates on if Valerii actually loved Galen Tyrol and the psychological trauma she has been subjected to. Park examines what choices she has made from that background:
"Did Boomer really love the Chief? That’s an interesting question and one I don’t have a neat answer to. Boomer is deeply conflicted. I think the process of having false memories planted in her, getting switched “on” as a Cylon, shooting Adama, getting shot by Cally, and her experiences on New Caprica have left her severely disturbed. She was determined to go through with her mission, but in the process of seducing Tyrol she reawakened feelings of love that she thought were dead. I think she experienced real misgivings just before she got on that Raptor, but felt she had gone too far to back down. Wrapped up in that is her perverse envy of Athena, who obtained everything Boomer once wanted, and this festered into a sick desire to strike out at Athena. It’s difficult to say someone who did that loves the Chief, and yet in her damaged way, I think she did and still does love him."[2] ----David Weddle
"Boomer is much more tragic and conflicted, and in a lot of denial. Athena came from a very different starting point, and everything was a lie, but she fought and made it through the trenches. She's a story not of privilege, but about creating whoever you want to be. That's the American story. Boomer could have been a number of things too, but she made a lot of poor decisions."[3] ---Grace Park
Notes
This Number Eight is often just called "Boomer" colloquially, as that callsign is more closely associated with her, while Sharon "Athena" Agathon is usually called "Sharon" and more recently "Athena". Until Season 3, this copy was referred to as Galactica copy ("Galactica-Sharon" or "Galactica-Boomer"), because she was first encountered on Galactica. She is refered to as Boomer by everyone on the series, including the Cylons, shown when she votes against the other Eights and Natalie Faust calls her Boomer when she walks into the room.
In reality, "Boomer" is a nickname for a ballistic missile submarine. "Helo" is a similar nickname for a helicopter.
Despite both being main characters for the first season of the show, with Boomer being a major character whenever she appeared after that, Boomer and Athena only actually meet four times. In their first meeting, Athena identifies Boomer preventing her from joining the negotiations and Boomer reveals that Hera is still alive, something which Athena didn't know. In their second meeting, Athena downloads into the Cylon fleet to rescue Hera and Boomer is suspicious of her intentions. Boomer threatens to kill Hera, but is instead killed by her former friend Caprica-Six. In their third meeting, Athena doesn't realize who she is at first and by the time she does it's too late and Boomer beats her up and ties her up as part of a plan to kidnap Hera. In their final meeting, Boomer gives back Hera to Athena and allows Athena to kill her.
Her personality after her resurrection seems to fluctuate between her human one and her Cylon one: at first she seemed more like her old "human" self until the failure of New Caprica. Afterwards it seemed like her personality was closer to that of her Cylon one while still retaining a few elements of her human one. Her return to Galactica seemed to stir her human personality more especially when she kidnapped Hera and bonded with her and she seemed to be in a state closer to her human personality than she had been since New Caprica when she died permanently.
References
↑This serial is based off her dogtags pictured here. This is the same serial number given to QMX by the studios for Sharon "Athena" Agathon's dog tags. In the episode "Water," Valerii looks at the ID tag on her uniform jacket, which reads "Lieutenant S. VALERII T-990429". This suggests that, like Karl Agathon and Saul Tigh, the prop tags and the scripts did not always match up perfectly.
This article concerns the second Number Eight Cylon who falls in love with Karl "Helo" Agathon, is commissioned a Colonial officer with the callsign of "Athena," and from whom all modern (real-world) humans descend.
For information on the "sleeper agent" with the callsign of "Boomer," see Sharon Valerii.
Cylon experimental mother; enemy prisoner of war/defector; confidant of & consultant to, Adm. Adama; liaison to New Caprica resistance; Raptor pilot assigned to Battlestar Galactica; mother of humanity
She is first encountered by Karl "Helo" Agathon when he is stranded on Caprica. Initially assigned to seduce him by impersonating Lieutenant Sharon "Boomer" Valerii, as part of a Cylon cross-breeding experiment, she turns against her people and helps him escape the planet. Pregnant with Helo's child, Helo is shocked by her true nature but ultimately accepts her lovingly as the mother of his child.
Once on Galactica, she is imprisoned and long seen as a mere object. She frequently provides intelligence, but is severely mistreated by an interrogator from Pegasus who beats and sexually assaults her. Over time, she earns Admiral Adama's trust by helping the Colonial Fleet escape peril several times, and she is eventually appointed as a Colonial Officer and marries Karl Agathon. Agathon gives birth on Galactica, but her daughter, Hera, is subsequently hidden from her, because President Roslin considers the baby a threat to the Fleet. Agathon believes Hera to be dead for more than a year, but after learning the truth about her child during a confrontation with Valerii, she is able to regain her daughter from the Cylons with the help of Caprica-Six.
She later has to deal with Boomer returning, beating her terribly, seducing Helo and kidnapping Hera. This causes her to fall into a depression until she finally rescues Hera during a final battle that destroys the Cylons. Also she gets some revenge for what Boomer did by being the one to permanently kill her. Afterwards, she gets to live out a peaceful existence on new Earth with her husband and daughter.
Biography
Cylon cross-breeding experiment on Caprica
Sharon is a Number Eight model first seen on Caprica shortly after the Fall of the Twelve Colonies and the Cylons decide to use her in an elaborate experiment focused on Karl "Helo" Agathon who is stranded on the planet after an emergency landing in Raptor 314. She is an identical copy of the same model as Helo's friend and co-pilot, the Cylon sleeper agent Lieutenant Sharon Valerii, and the Cylons hope to explore the possibilities of Cylon-human procreation by getting Helo to fall in love with her (TRS: "The Farm"). Sharon appears to Helo to rescue him after he is captured by a Six and several Cylon Centurions. Unaware that Cylons have developed human models, Helo believes her to be Sharon Valerii from Galactica, returning to rescue him (TRS: "33"). Following this staged rescue, she leads Helo to a Raptor, now surrounded by Cylon Centurions, and convinces him that they have no direct way off the planet (TRS: "Water"). Sharon is able to impersonate Lieutenant Valerii convincingly, since she has accessed Valerii's memories at least up until the point of Helo being left behind on Caprica (TRS: "Flesh and Bone", "Scattered", "Home, Part II", "Flight of the Phoenix", "Scar").
After receiving a feigned Colonial signal on a radio receiver they carry, Sharon leads Helo to a city where they find a fully-equipped fallout shelter in which two people can live in reasonable security, hidden from above-ground Cylon operations, and with sufficient supplies to last a considerable period of time (TRS: "Act of Contrition"). The purpose in establishing this retreat is to elicit an emotional response in Helo towards his Cylon companion. When this fails and Helo continues to seek a way off Caprica, the Cylons lead him to believe that Sharon has been captured, concluding that if Helo does not seek to rescue her, the experiment has failed and he must be killed (TRS: "You Can't Go Home Again").
Helo does undertake a successful rescue attempt and shortly after, the two of them have sex for the first time in a nearby forest. Helo had always been fond of the original Valerii on Galactica, but his affection for her was stilled by her relationship with Chief Galen Tyrol(TRS: "Six Degrees of Separation"). Pleased with the progress, the Cylons set up a new hideout, a cabin in the woods, and Sharon is instructed to lead him there and have him stay with her – or kill him, if he attempts to leave (TRS: "Flesh and Bone"). But she begins to question the Cylons' overall goal. Realizing that she has herself fallen in love with Helo, Sharon disobeys her instructions and leads Helo to Delphi, where they hope to steal a vehicle and get off the planet (TRS: "Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down"). On their way to Delphi, she shows signs of being pregnant, succumbing to a bout of morning sickness (TRS: "The Hand of God") and developing a ravenous appetite (TRS: "Colonial Day").
Revelation of her true identity and arrival at the Fleet
On reaching Delphi, Sharon and Helo break into the Cylon facilities to gain access to the spaceport. But as Helo encounters yet another Number Eight model, he draws the initial conclusion that Sharon is a human clone created by the Cylons and goes on the run alone (TRS: "Colonial Day"). When Sharon catches up with him, she tried to calm him down and eventually challenges him to shoot her, after he tells her to stay away (TRS: "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I"). Helo can only bring himself to wound her, and he takes Sharon with him to use her in some way to get off Caprica. While Helo keeps her at gunpoint, Sharon leads him to the Delphi Museum. Waiting out a storm in a nearby ruined building, she explains to him that she is “Sharon”, not a mere clone or a copy, and that she is as real as Sharon Valerii on Galactica. She also tells him that her love for him is real and that she is pregnant with his child.
When Sharon and Helo come across Lieutenant Kara Thrace who has landed near the museum to retrieve the Arrow of Apollo, Thrace realizes on-sight that Sharon is a Cylon (having left Valerii behind on Galactica) and she attempts to shoot her. Helo stops Thrace and reveals to her that Sharon is pregnant with his child (TRS: "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II"). Thrace also wrongly concludes that she must be a Cylon copy of the real Valerii on Galactica; Sharon's attempts to explain her identity to her are unsuccessful. While Thrace and Helo argue over her, Sharon escapes in Thrace's Cylon Raider to save herself and the life of her unborn child (TRS: "Scattered").
Several days later, Sharon returns to Helo who is now with a human resistance movement that has formed on Caprica. She offers her help in finding Thrace who was abducted during a Cylon ambush (TRS: "The Farm"). Thrace manages to escape to the outside of the hospital where she was imprisoned and Sharon arrives at the rescue scene in a stolen Cylon Heavy Raider, destroying several Cylon Centurions that attack the Resistance rescue party. Following the successful rescue, Sharon accompanies Helo and Thrace on their way back to the human Fleet in the Heavy Raider.
When they arrive at the Fleet and Sharon walks aboard the Astral Queen, Captain Lee Adama reacts violently. The son of Commander Adama who was shot by the Cylon "sleeper" agent Valerii grabs her and places his gun to her head. Helo draws his sidearm against Adama, forcing a standoff. President Laura Roslin urges both men to withdraw their weapons, but then immediately orders Sharon to be ejected out an airlock. Sharon tells Roslin she knows the location of the Tomb of Athena, an ancient place Roslin is trying to find, and she reconsiders, placing Sharon in the brig. Roslin later explains that she suspects Sharon is willing to cooperate, because she wants to protect Helo and her unborn child, something Roslin interprets as a mothering instinct.
Sharon accompanies Roslin's party to Kobol. She recites specific passages of the Tomb of Athena in the scriptures of the Sacred Scrolls and plots the group's path on the planet. On their way they are ambushed by Cylon Centurions who open fire. As the others take cover and return fire, Sharon vaults away, with Captain Adama in pursuit, believing she is trying to escape. Sharon picks up a grenade launcher lying ahead, and as Adama thinks she is about to shoot him, she aims for the remaining Centurion and destroys it (TRS: "Home, Part I"). At camp, Adama voices suspicions about Helo who still loves Sharon, despite his awareness of her true nature as a Cylon. During the trek, Sharon casually tells Helo that their child is a girl.
Shortly after, Commander Adama’s search party arrives at Roslin's camp. When Adama sees Sharon, who looks exactly like the Cylon who shot him, he looks her over while remembering events that had happened and tries to choke her to death shortly thereafter. However, chest pain from his fresh wound forces him to release her. After the attempted strangulation, Sharon enigmatically references what Adama said over Sharon Valerii’s dead body, saying “and you asked why” aloud.
Later, one of Tom Zarek's followers, Meier, tries to convince Sharon to help him kill both Adamas, as part of a plan to gain control of the Fleet. Sharon initially believed that Sharon Valerii was being held in the brig, but Meier informs her that she was killed. She expresses her outrage to Helo that Cally received only a minor punishment for this murder. Sharon deduces that the Colonials do not see humanoid Cylons as people and that she must take matters into her own hands to prove her trustworthiness. Sharon appears to take up Meier's proposal to kill both Commander Adama and Captain Adama, but as Meier draws his weapon, she kills him instead, saving the lives of both Adamas. She announces to Commander Adama that she is not the same Cylon who shot him, and that she has no hidden protocols waiting to be activated; she makes her own choices. She then surrenders her weapon to Adama and successfully leads them to the Tomb of Athena.
Sharon is brought aboard Galactica and imprisoned in a new reinforced cell that was originally designed to incarcerate Sharon Valerii. The virtual Number Six tells Dr. Gaius Baltar that Sharon's baby will be born in that cell and that the child belongs to Baltar and her (TRS: "Home, Part II").
During her imprisonment, Sharon nearly has a miscarriage, and is brought to sickbay where Dr. Cottle succeeds in saving the fetus. A Number Three model who poses as the reporter D'anna Biers in the Fleet News Service, stumbles upon Sharon while filming a documentary on board Galactica and she manages to send footage of Sharon back to Caprica. The Cylons are surprised, yet overjoyed, that Sharon is still alive. They are concerned that her hybrid child survives; saying that it must be protected at all costs (TRS: "Final Cut").
When Galactica experiences mysterious computer failures and system malfunctions from a mutated version of a Cylon virus, Commander Adama orders Helo to show the incarcerated Sharon the strange Cylon code. Sharon identifies it as a virulent logic bomb that will take control of the ship and kill off the crew without her help. Reluctantly, on advice from President Roslin, Adama brings Sharon to CIC, where she cuts her arm open and connects herself to a fiber optic data line to communicate with Galactica's mainframe computer. On accessing the computer, she takes into her a portion of the logic bomb code, and then instructs Lieutenant Gaeta to wipe the system's hard drives to erase all Cylon virus traces. As the crew restarts the ship’s computers, a massive Cylon fighter force jumps into range, leaving Galactica defenseless. Sharon makes adjustments to the code and transmits the altered virus from Galactica to the Cylons, disabling the entire fleet of Cylon fighters allowing Galactica's fighters to easily destroy them (TRS: "Flight of the Phoenix").
Interrogation and abuse
Sharon is beaten and sexually assaulted during an interrogation by Lt. Thorne.
After Galactica reunites with battlestar Pegasus, Admiral Helena Cain sends Lieutenant Alastair Thorne to inspect the incarcerated Sharon. He beats and sexually assaults her with the help of several of his guards. Helo and Chief Tyrol find out about Thorne and what was done to his previous prisoner, and they arrive in time to stop him, but Tyrol accidentally kills Thorne in the process. Both Tyrol and Helo are arrested by the Pegasus guards and taken to Admiral Cain's Battlestar, where Cain hastily convenes courts-martial for them, sentencing both to death (TRS: "Resurrection Ship, Part I").
Sharon's attempted rape results in a hairline fracture in one of her ribs and minor bruising. Commander Adama who has reached a détente with Admiral Cain over Helo and Tyrol's execution personally apologizes to Sharon over the incident; this is also the first time that Adama refers to Sharon as "her," instead of "it." Later, Adama asks to speak with her in private, questioning her why the Cylons hate humanity. She responds by reminding him of a speech he gave before the attacks, in which he suggested that humanity is a flawed creation, and she implies that therefore humanity might not deserve to survive. This conversation causes Adama to decide not to go through with assassinating Admiral Cain. Cain similarly decides not to kill Adama but for an unknown reason. Sharon is later reunited with Helo and Tyrol (who she pointedly ignores) when the two are released after Cain's death, as Adama resumes full command of the Fleet(TRS: "Resurrection Ship, Part II").
Weeks later, President Roslin, on her deathbed, orders that Sharon's fetus be aborted, fearing the baby might be dangerous for the Fleet. On hearing this news, Sharon is enraged, having cooperated fully to aid the Fleet to save herself and her child, and to show that not all Cylons are dangerous. Marines are sent to take her to sickbay to forcibly perform the abortion procedure. At the last minute, Dr. Baltar learns that the fetal blood of Sharon's baby has the ability to destroy cancer cells. He takes a small blood sample and injects it into the dying Roslin; moments later, her cancer disappears. The abortion procedure is cancelled (TRS: "Epiphanies").
Despite her mistreatment, Sharon continues to support the Fleet and provides intelligence. She helps Captain Thrace to understand the behavior of Cylon Raiders(TRS: "Scar"), and frequently assists Admiral Adama to plot the Fleet's course in order to avoid Cylon confrontation. Colonel Tigh remains extremely skeptical of her increased involvement. Terrorists take hostages on Cloud 9 and demand her turned over in exchange for their lives. Adama questions Sharon if she'd tell him the names of the Cylons in the Fleet, but when she refuses, it just seems to reaffirm her value to him and he pretends to kill her himself and then turn over her body, in reality the Boomer copy of Sharon's dead body. Unfortunately the terrorists figure out the deception quickly and one hostage is killed, but the distraction allows marines time and a distraction to resolve the situation. (TRS: "Sacrifice").
When Sharon begins to bleed due to a detached placenta, Dr. Cottle performs an emergency birth procedure to save both her and the baby's life. Sharon and Helo name the baby girl Hera. After her parents believe Hera is out of danger, the baby apparently dies due to her underdeveloped lungs and Dr. Cottle's failure to intubate her in time. Sharon, suspecting her child was killed deliberately, nearly strangles Dr. Cottle before being subdued, and she subsequently falls into a deep depression.
However, unbeknownst to Sharon and Helo, Hera is still alive. President Roslin who still considers the child a danger for the Fleet had Sharon's baby switched with the body of a dead child and, with the help of Dr. Cottle and her aide Tory Foster, places Hera in the care of Maya, a foster mother. Maya is told a cover story that disguises Hera's true identity (TRS: "Downloaded"). Admiral Adama is not informed of Roslin's plan (TRS: "The Eye of Jupiter").
Sharon's depression over losing her child worsens and Helo convinces her to aid in the rescue of Samuel Anders and other survivors on Caprica, in part to try and draw her out of her depression. Sharon's knowledge of Cylon FTL technology makes the rescue possible. She acts as a conduit between the Colonial Raptors and the far more advanced FTL computer salvaged from the Cylon Heavy Raider she once brought back to Galactica(TRS: "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I").
On Caprica, Captain Thrace demonstrates a new level of trust for Sharon by handing her a gun during a firefight with ambushing Cylon Centurions. Later, Sharon is as perplexed as everyone else when the Cylons disengage and apparently leave the planet. She is aware, however, that Cavil, a man who approaches the group and loudly proclaims the end of the occupation to be a miracle, is a Cylon. On Galactica, Cavil is exposed by Chief Tyrol, and Admiral Adama sends Sharon back to the brig. When asked by a distraught Helo why she did not mention that Cavil is Cylon, she replies "They killed my baby. Do you think I care about you, or us, or whether or not Adama trusts me anymore?" Sharon withdraws further, shutting Helo out completely (TRS: "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II").
Officer of the Colonial Fleet
Sharon Agathon is commissioned as a Colonial Officer.
More than a year later, and four months after Galactica and Pegasus's retreat from New Caprica, Sharon Agathon is now married to Helo. In the year that has passed, Admiral Adama has taken Sharon into his confidence and she seems to have become his advisor of sorts having apparently fully gained his trust. The two periodically sit down to tea; her cell now has a couch, a table, and other amenities. She tells him that she has come to forgive herself for her actions against her race and losing her daughter and that he must forgive himself for leaving the people behind on New Caprica if humanity and the Fleet are to survive. (TRS: "Occupation"). Thanks to her giving him his confidence back, Adama decides to forgive himself for leaving most of the Fleet behind and go ahead with the rescue mission. As part of the plan Adama commissions Agathon into the Colonial Fleet as a lieutenant (junior grade). When she asks how he knows if she won't betray him, he simply replies he doesn't, but "that's what trust is." On her first mission, Agathon leads an insertion force that will serve as a liaison between the New Caprica Resistance and Galactica during the extraction of the population. She commands two Raptors in an intra-atmosphere jump and links up with Samuel Anders and his squad at the Breeders Canyon. Due to an ambush she is nearly killed, but is saved since her Marines anticipated a possible ambush and were in position to deal with the threat (TRS: "Precipice", "Exodus, Part I").
On the following day, Agathon covertly enters the Cylon detention center to recover the launch keys for the grounded Colonial ships, bypassing human and Centurion guards that cannot distinguish Agathon from other Eights. After interfacing with a data terminal and obtaining the keys, a Number Three enters the room and challenges her loyalty. The Three tells her that Hera is still alive, but Agathon rejects the notion saying that Adama wouldn't lie to her (he didn't: he didn't know the truth), shoots the Three in each leg to slow her eventual report back to other Cylons. When she hands over the launch keys to Chief Tyrol, she asks him if he had actually seen Hera's ashes, which he affirms (TRS: "Exodus, Part I").
Following the Battle of New Caprica, the Agathons and many other pilots eat in the mess hall. After Racetrack addresses Agathon as "Boomer," Helo asks the crew for suggestions for a more appropriate callsign. A number of humorous and affectionate responses, including "Chrome-dome" and "The Raptor Adaptor" arise, reflecting Agathon's grown trust and comfort amongst the human crew, but Helo opts for Brendan "Hot Dog" Costanza's suggestion, "Athena" (TRS: "Torn").
Agathon undertakes a solo recon mission through a high radiation cluster to look for a planet with suitable material to replenish the Fleet's lost food supplies. Agathon's Cylon physiology withstands radiation levels that would have killed a human, although not without some discomfort. The successful mission confirms the foodstuffs on a planet with algae and gives needed data to safely attempt the guide the Fleet (TRS: "The Passage").
Reunion with her child
During a stand-off at the Algae planet, a Cylon delegation boards Galactica to negotiate for the Eye of Jupiter. Agathon, near the conference area, instantly identifies the Eight from the baseship delegation as Boomer. Valerii tells Agathon that her daughter, Hera, is still alive and also notes President Roslin's involvement in her daughter's disappearance. After confirming the matter with Roslin, Admiral Adama informs Agathon that Hera's death was indeed fabricated without his knowledge. Agathon angrily demands to see her child (TRS: "The Eye of Jupiter").
Agathon convinces Helo that the only way to rescue Hera is for her to download to the Cylon fleet and infiltrate the basestar where Hera is kept. Reluctantly, Helo agrees to shoot her and Agathon is subsequently downloaded into a new body and resurrected on the nearby resurrection ship where she is greeted by Caprica-Six upon rebirth. Agathon pretends that she wants to stay with the Cylons and Caprica-Six leads her to Hera as Caprica-Six is apparently at least somewhat sympathetic to her. Her daughter is ill and apparently rejecting Valerii who has been taking care of the child on board the Cylon vessel. Following Agathon's demand that Hera needs to see a human doctor, Valerii threatens to kill Hera, but Caprica-Six intervenes and kills Valerii instead. Accompanied by Caprica-Six, Agathon and her daughter leave the basetar in a captured Raptor and return to Galactica(TRS: "Rapture").
Strange visions and the search for Earth
Several weeks later Agathon is assigned to fly Major Adama and Gaius Baltar's new defense attorney Romo Lampkin to Colonial One to retrieve documents needed for the up-coming trial. Before take off, a remote-detonation bomb attached to the Raptor is fortuitously discovered. Cally Tyrol brings up Agathon's name and indirectly asserts she is the the unknown bomber. When confronted by Agathon, Tyrol denies making such an accusation, though Agathon goes on to note how she did not accuse her despite equal circumstantial evidence implicating her. Agathon points out Tyrol's deep hatred for all Cylons and hands over her sidearm, challenging Tyrol to shoot her. When she fails to pull the trigger, Agathon grabs the gun back and threatens to kill Tyrol if it is discovered she was responsible for the bomb on her ship. It is later revealed that the explosive was the work of fellow Galactica officer Captain Kelly and was designed to kill Lampkin (TRS: "The Son Also Rises"). During the time of Baltar's trial, Agathon is experiencing mysterious dreams of President Roslin, Caprica-Six and her child Hera in the Kobol Opera House. She later finds out that both Roslin and Caprica-Six deal with the same dreams, but their meaning remains unclear at first (TRS: "Crossroads, Part II").
Along with her husband, Agathon is among the crew of the Demetrius(TRS: "The Ties That Bind"). 58 days into their mission to find Earth, Sharon Agathon and others show concern that Thrace cannot be trusted, and that they have to meet up with the Fleet for refueling (TRS: "The Road Less Traveled"). She physically restrains Thrace to prevent her from executing an FTL jump to a Cylon fleet. When Thrace decides to take a Raptor instead, Agathon accompanies her assuring her that she can be trusted despite her mutinying. On the basestar she meets other Eights who ask her to lead a mutiny against Natalie, but Agathon is disgusted at their lack of conviction, saying that they have to stick with the side they chose. During the attempt to get information from the Hybrid, another Eight is shot by a Centurion. After the Hybrid gives Thrace a cryptic message, Agathon disconnects the Hybrid herself, but refuses to take the mortally wounded Eight's hand and offer her forgiveness and comfort as she dies. Anders does instead and once the baseship jumps back to the Demetrius, Agathon contacts her husband lets him know that they have control of the ship (TRS: "Faith").
After they return with the Cylon rebels, Agathon has another vision of the Opera House. She wakes up to see her daughter standing next to her bed and finds out that she has filled an entire scrapbook with drawings of a blond woman and the number "six". Shocked at the drawings, she notices that Hera has left the room and runs out into the hallways. Her search for Hera on Galactica parallels the Opera House visions. At the same time Natalie is escorted to a meeting with Admiral Adama and she and her guards run right into Hera. Fascinated, Natalie kneels down to be close to the child. When Agathon catches up to them, she draws her sidearm and tells Natalie to back off. Then, after ensuring that Hera is taken to safety, Agathon shoots Natalie, mortally wounding her, fearing that she would take her daughter from her, like the Six in the vision (TRS: "Guess What's Coming to Dinner?").
After the shooting she is taken to see Admiral Adama who demands an explanation from her. She describes the vision to Adama who finds the explanation from her inadequate and decides to send her to the brig. She requests to keep her child, but Adama declines, believing that the brig is no place for a child. After Adama goes through his own emotional turmoil and making questionable decisions vis a vis the abduction of President Roslin and many of his pilots by the rebel Cylons, he instructs Colonel Tigh to give her Hera back despite her being imprisoned (TRS: "Sine Qua Non"). She is later released from the brig to assist with a rescue plan during a hostage situation aboard the Cylon rebel baseship.
When the Fleet finally arrives at Earth, she is with her family in her quarters. She and her husband are among the first team to land on the planet, but, to their despair, only discover a destroyed city (TRS: "Revelations").
Athena is incarcerated in the Cylon brig with her husband, her daughter, Caprica-Six, Tigh, and Anders during the mutiny, and is released by Starbuck and Apollo to help put down the rebellion (TRS: "The Oath, Blood on the Scales"). After Boomer returns and escapes imprisonment, she assaults Athena and steals her uniform to impersonate her and abduct Hera (TRS: "Someone to Watch Over Me"). Even after a rescue mission for Hera is put into motion, Athena remains emotionally devastated as she does not expect to find her child alive (TRS: "Daybreak, Part I"). Athena, Helo, Starbuck, Apollo, and a force of free Centurions board the Colony to retrieve Hera. Boomer returns the child to her parents after a change of heart. Athena then shoots Boomer dead, which Boomer expected. The Agathon family settle on the newly discovered Earth. Athena is a direct ancestress of all modern-day humans through her daughter Hera (TRS: "Daybreak, Part II").
Notes
Fans have often speculated that the Eight seen on Ragnar Anchorage at the end of the Miniseries, who wears a Colonial flightsuit and receives a "by your command" from a Six, is this version of Sharon. However, this is unconfirmed, and there is no known reason why she would be present in a flightsuit at Ragnar before appearing on occupied Caprica; therefore, the character is considered to have been introduced in the episode "33".
This Number Eight is usually called "Sharon" and after the events of New Caprica "Athena," while Sharon Valerii is often just called "Boomer," as that callsign is more closely associated with her. This Sharon has only been called "Boomer" twice onscreen, once by Baltar in "Home, Part II" and once by Racetrack in "Torn". In the latter case, she requests to be called something else. Until Season 3, this copy was referred to by fans and members of the cast & crew as the Caprica copy ("Caprica-Sharon" or "Caprica-Boomer"), because she was first encountered on Caprica.
Sharon Agathon's callsign, "Athena," may be a reference to her nature as a Cylon, if the Colonists share the Greek myth that Pallas Athene sprung from the head of Zeus fully grown without ever having a childhood – much as a Cylon does.
Athena is one of the Lords of Kobol. In "Home, Part II," Sharon relates the death of Athena on Kobol, "Athena [threw] herself down [from the Gates of Hera] onto the rocks below, out of despair over the Exodus of the thirteen tribes."
Her callsign also creates a parallel with the Original Series character of Athena. In the Original Series, Athena was the daughter of Adama. In the Re-imagined Series, Agathon's relationship with Adama is very similar, as he develops a close fatherly bond to her.
Despite being in many episodes with Boomer, Athena only actually meets her four times and none are friendly meetings. The first meeting is when Boomer boards Galactica as part of a delegation and is stopped after Athena identifies her. Boomer tells Athena Hera is alive and is mean to her causing Athena to storm off. Their second meeting is when Athena downloads into the Cylon fleet to rescue Hera. Boomer is taking care of Hera and gladly passes her off to her mother, but refuses to let her take Hera to Galactica for treatmeant and threatens to kill her. Athena manages to convince Caprica-Six to help and she kills Boomer who later downloads into a new body. The third meeting is after Boomer has been captured and escaped. Boomer enters the same bathroom as Athena who doesn't realize who it is until too late and beaten severly by Boomer and is forced to watch as Boomer seduces Helo. The fourth and final meeting is during Hera's rescue where Boomer somewhat reedeems herself for her actions by returning Hera to her parents without a fight after saving her from disection. Athena refuses to forgive Boomer who knew she wouldn't and then kills her. Boomer lets Athena kill her, and with resurrection destroyed Boomer's death is final.
References
↑This number was confirmed by the studios to QMX, who produces dogtags based off the show. It is the same number as Sharon "Boomer" Valerii, suggesting that she was not assigned another serial number to distinguish herself from "Boomer".
"Number Eight" is one of the twelve humanoid Cylon models. She is the youngest in both fact and appearance and generally associated with the name "Sharon" when interacting with humans. Eights are known for being more empathic and compassionate than the other Cylons. Humans have particularly been exposed to two specific copies, Sharon "Boomer" Valerii, a "sleeper" agent who served on board Galactica believing herself to be one of the human crew while unknowingly programmed as a saboteur and assassin, and Sharon "Athena" Agathon, who was assigned to seduce Karl "Helo" Agathon on the planet Caprica, but fell in love with him and defected to the human side, replacing Boomer as a Colonial officer on Galactica. There are numerous other copies among the Cylon populace.
Sharon "Boomer" Valerii is a copy initially planted as a "sleeper" agent in the Colonial Fleet. Implanted with false memories, she is unaware of her Cylon nature and serves for two years as Lieutenant Valerii on Galactica, where she is assigned as a Raptor pilot and also engaged in a secret relationship with Chief Tyrol. After the Cylon attack, her underlying programming repeatedly emerges which leads her to unconscious acts of sabotage. Growing confusion about her true self results in a deep depression and a failed suicide attempt. After Valerii returns from a successful mission to destroy a Cylon basestar, she shoots Commander Adama in the chest, wounding him critically. She is incarcerated in the brig and is shot and killed by Specialist Cally while being moved to a specially-built holding cell.
Athena (left), Boomer (right).
Her consciousness is downloaded and she is reborn in another body. Subsequently, she experiences severe problems integrating into Cylon society and long considers herself more human than Cylon. She eventually works together with Caprica-Six in an attempt to change Cylon popular opinion about humans and she emerges as one of the Cylon leaders jointly responsible for the end of the occupation of the Twelve Colonies and later the Cylon occupation on New Caprica. Following the failure on New Caprica, Valerii abandons her hopes for coexistence with humans and she denounces her past on Galactica.
Later she sides with Cavil in the Cylon Civil War and is the only Eight on his side. She is in a physical relationship with Cavil, and is even aware of the identities of the Final Five and that Ellen Tigh is being held prisoner within the Cylon fleet. She appears to defect and helps Ellen escape, but it's part of a successful plan to kidnap Hera Agathon, the daughter of the Eight called Athena. Boomer is put in the brig upon her arrival on Galactica despite her rescue of Ellen, but escapes by manipulating the emotions of her old lover Galen Tyrol. She tells Tyrol that despite everything, she still loves him and thinks about him often, even creating a projection of their dream home and a daughter for them. Knowing that the rebel Cylons plan to try and execute Boomer for betraying them, Tyrol knocks out another Eight and switches her with Boomer. Boomer then assaults and switches places with Athena, and kidnaps Hera so that she can be studied on The Colony. She seems to show some remorse for kidnapping Hera, who she bonds with on the trip to The Colony, and is the only one of Cavil's faction who shows her any compassion. Boomer gives Hera back to Athena and Helo during the Battle of The Colony, saying that she owed Admiral Adama a favor and she has made what was probably her last choice. Boomer is then shot and killed by Athena. With the Resurrection Hub destroyed, Boomer's death was final.
Sharon "Athena" Agathon is a copy first encountered by Karl "Helo" Agathon, when he is stranded on Caprica. She is initially assigned to seduce him by impersonating Lieutenant Sharon Valerii, as part of a Cylon cross-breeding experiment. To facilitate her mission, this Sharon was given Boomer's memories at least up until the point of leaving Helo behind on Caprica. Unlike Boomer, she is always aware of being a Cylon. Sharon later turns against her people and helps Agathon escape the planet; pregnant with his child during that time. Helo, first shocked by her true nature, ultimately accepts her as the mother of his child and declares his love for her.
Once on Galactica, she is imprisoned in the cell built for Boomer and long seen as nothing but a "toaster". She frequently provides intelligence and earns Admiral Adama's trust by helping the Colonial Fleet escape peril several times. Sharon gives birth on Galactica to a daughter named Hera, but President Roslin considers the Cylons' interest in the baby a threat to the Fleet and so has Doctor Cottle fake the child's death and give her to a foster mother. Sharon eventually marries Karl Agathon and becomes a Colonial Raptor pilot with the callsign "Athena". She believes Hera to be dead for more than a year, unaware of her presence on New Caprica or her recovery by the Cylons during the exodus from that planet. After learning the truth during a confrontation with Sharon Valerii, Athena is able to regain her daughter from the Cylons with the help of Caprica-Six.
Since her joining the Fleet she has become a trusted officer who is assigned the hardest of missions, at least one which being a Cylon helped her survive when it would be difficult for normal humans (TRS: "The Passage"). She tells Helo at one point that she has to struggle to be accepted everyday because of her true nature as a Cylon, but despite that she remains loyal to the Fleet. When she learns that the Colonials plan to wipe out the whole Cylon fleet by unleashing the lymphocytic encephalitis virus, she says that she will keep her word nonetheless even if it means she's the last Cylon in existence. At one point she encounters several other Eight copies on the Rebel Basestar, who revere her since she was the first Cylon to say "no" to the overall plan and now has a child and a place among the humans. They ask her to lead a mutiny against Natalie and the other Sixes, whose leadership they blame for their current troubles; however, Athena refuses, saying that the other Eights disgust her. She explains that they should choose which side they are on and not cut and run when things get ugly, or else they'll never achieve any of the things they want for themselves.
Athena later is severely beaten by Boomer and locked, half-conscious, in one of the ship's bathroom stalls, having to watch as Boomer seduces Helo. Athena frees herself too late to prevent Boomer from kidnapping Hera. Athena seems to fall into a depression, basically ignoring her husband and stating that she doesn't think they'll find Hera alive even when a rescue is finally launched for her. Athena is part of the strike team that invades The Colony through Raptors and finds that Boomer has saved her daughter from dissection. Boomer returns Hera to her, but Athena refuses to forgive Boomer, saying that returning Hera doesn't absolve Boomer's various betrayals. Boomer agrees. Athena then shoots and kills Boomer for her actions. Athena, Helo, and Hera survive the Battle of The Colony and settle on the new Earth to live out the rest of their days in peace.
Shortly after the Cylon Attack ends, an Eight in a pale blue tunic is one of four 'rebirth nurses' who greet Caprica-Six following her rebirth (this takes place at the same time as the events of the middle or end of the Miniseries, but is seen in the much later episode "Downloaded").
An Eight wearing a gray coat is witnessed by Helo at the spaceport at Delphi. She notices him and draws a gun on him, but is quickly shot by the Sharon with him. This reveals to Helo that his Sharon is a Cylon (TRS: "Colonial Day").
Multiple nude copies of the Eight model are present on the basestar over Kobol and confront Sharon Valerii outside the Raptor she has landed within the vessel, telling her that they love her and will see her again (TRS: "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II"). They are blown up along with the rest of the Basestar when the warhead planted by Valerii detonates. Despite having time to act, they do nothing to stop the warhead and apparently activate Valerii's Cylon programing once more as she later shoots Commander Adama without the usual trigger for her programing being present.
An Eight is among a group of rebirth nurses, possibly the same one that midwifed Caprica-Six, who welcome the reborn Sharon Valerii. Valerii becomes hysterical after seeing and hearing this copy.
A copy of Number Eight is seen at the end of "Final Cut," also wearing a grey coat like other Eights on Caprica, remarking in delight that the Sharon who escaped Caprica with Helo and Starbuck is still alive (and saying, "I told you" to the Number Five copy sitting next to her).
Numerous copies of Eight are seen on Cylon occupied Caprica throughout the episode "Downloaded".
Several Eights are part of a group of humanoid Cylons blown up on New Caprica by a bomb planted by Samuel Anders and Galen Tyrol as they approach a group of Centurions exiting from a Heavy Raider which has just landed.
Another Eight sits next to Valerii on Colonial One during the Cylon Occupation Authority's discussion of the suicide bombing of New Caprica City's power station and the subsequent proposal that harsher measures be adopted. She does not speak during the meeting.
An Eight, referred to in script as "Sweet Eight," seduces Felix Gaeta on New Caprica. She offers to check on and, when possible, rescue prisoners whom he cares about. Secretly aware that Gaeta is working with the human resistance, "Sweet Eight" saves a few token humans from Gaeta's lists and orders the remainder killed as being valuable to her human enemies. Much later, "Sweet Eight" kills everyone else aboard Raptor 718 except Gaeta, including another Eight, in order to save oxygen for herself and Gaeta. Gaeta discovers this and she reveals her actions during the occupation of New Caprica. Gaeta then kills her (The Face of the Enemy). Gaius Baltar was aware of her actions on New Caprica ("Taking a Break From All Your Worries"; confirmed in "The Face of the Enemy").
An Eight can be seen practicing a Cylon version of Tai Chi in the episode "Torn" while nude.
Another Eight is among the infected Cylons captured by Galactica as part of the Colonials' plot to infect the Cylon race with the virus from the Lion's Head beacon. She and the others are executed by Karl Agathon before the plan can be put into action (TRS: "A Measure of Salvation"). Because no Resurrection Ship was in range, her death is final.
The Number Eights in the episode "Six of One," with the exception of Sharon Valerii, are supporters of the Number Six Natalie. They are excited at the prospect of discovering the Final Five and vote with the Twos and Sixes against the lobotomization of the Cylon Raiders.
The Eights in Natalie's group decide that they need to mutiny and turn to Athena to lead the rebellion. She refuses and tells them they need to pick a side and stick with it. One is mortally wounded by a Centurion (which is then killed by Starbuck) while attempting to disconnect the Hybrid. She apologizes to Athena asking for forgiveness admitting that Athena was right. Athena doesn't grant it, but Samuel Anders holds her hand and comforts her as she dies (TRS: "Faith").
Another copy works with Karl Agathon during the attack on the Cylon Resurrection Hub. When she gives him a massage like his wife does, he asks her about it and she say that she was curious about Sharon Agathon, so she downloaded her memories from the last time Agathon resurrected (TRS: "Rapture"). This makes her Sharon Agathon to some extent, complete with an emotional attachment to Karl Agathon. She is aware that it is an awkward situation for Karl, but is still annoyed when he rebuffs her. Shortly after, she helps him by giving a speech to the reluctant Viper pilots that motivate them to trust the Cylons. During the battle she and Karl take a Raptor to the Hub to retrieve the unboxed Number Three. Afterwards, she is furious when she learns that the humans double-crossed them and have no intention of handing over the Three (TRS: "The Hub"). In a deleted scene for the episode she is shot seconds after this revelation by a Cavil that was part of a boarding party. Helo kills the Cavil and goes to help her, but she's dead.
A pilot Eight, referred to as "Hard Eight" in script, is aboard Raptor 718 when it becomes separated from the Fleet. While attempting to repair a loose connection using deckhand Brooks' pliers, she is fatally electrocuted, after which it is discovered that the insulation had been stripped from the pliers. "Sweet Eight" is later revealed to have stripped the insulation, intending to kill the deckhand in order to save oxygen (The Face of the Enemy).
Several copies work around Galactica applying the organic resin.
Another copy is either knocked out or killed by Tyrol and used to replace Boomer so she could escape.
Another copy has to forcibly restrain a Six who nearly gets into a fight with a human worker.
Another Eight (or possibly the same one that restrained the Six) is mortally wounded during the hull breach on Galactica. She asks to see Colonel Tigh, who she knows by this point is her "father," as the Final Five are the creators of the eight numbered models. Tigh visits this Eight on her deathbed and thus she is able to die with some peace.
The remaining Eights who survived the Battle of The Colony presumably joined the human race with the rest of the Cylons.
Notes
Ron D. Moore stated in an interview for TheFandom.com, "There is no original human Sharon. The idea is not that there was likely an original human model that they were copied from. The idea was that these models of Cylon were sort of developed out of their own study of us. The Cylons on some level looked at humanity and said 'You know what? There's really only 12 of you.' If these are the 12, and sort of if you look at them they each represent different archetypes of what humanity is." This is contradicted however in No Exit when it is revealed that Cavil was created in the image of Ellen's father.
Valerii is the male plural form of the Roman name of the family Valeria. Valerius is the singular form.
Neither Eight with extended time with the Colonials refers to her lover by his first name on screen during the first two seasons. During that time, Sharon Valerii calls Chief Tyrol by "Chief" instead of "Galen," while Sharon Agathon uses Karl Agathon's callsign, Helo. Ronald D. Moore explained in his blog that no one had ever really called Tyrol "Galen" before, and hearing Valerii say it during her death scene would have distracted from the emotional impact of her death. Moore compared it to the Seinfeld episode when Kramer's first name is revealed to be "Cosmo"; i.e. the viewers would be unused to Tyrol's previously unknown first name. As for Agathon, everybody usually just calls him "Helo". Sharon Valerii referred to Chief Tyrol by "Galen" for the first time while speaking to Cally in the Cylon Detention Center on New Caprica, long after their romantic relationship had ended. Whereas Sharon Agathon calls Helo by his first name, Karl, in "The Woman King".
Caprica producers Kevin Murphy and Jane Espenson have stated that one of various ideas for the future of the series discussed, but not finalized, by the writing staff was that Tamara Adama became the archetype for the Number Eight model.[1][2]
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